


All The Stars Above

by transmarkcohen



Category: Rent - Larson
Genre: Adorable, Cute, F/F, Fluff, Romance, Sweet, jomi, maybe even no death this time, not as much death, probs a dramatic breakup though
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-11
Updated: 2018-10-04
Packaged: 2019-05-20 19:00:51
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14900171
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transmarkcohen/pseuds/transmarkcohen
Summary: joke borrowed from meetyourmarker on tumblr





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HeadlinesBreadlinesBlowMyMind](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HeadlinesBreadlinesBlowMyMind/gifts).



                       you 

                       you

                       angel

                       goddess

                       immortal, pure, everlasting

                       me

                       me

                       troublemaker

                       how could you love me

                       bruised, scarred, alone

                       you

                           and

                               me.

 

                          If her name wasn't an indicator of her love life, a forever spiral of ups and downs, she wished the stars to crash down to the earth. Mimi-named after a seamstress. Thread, stitches, tying things together. Like words in a story. She fell for the poet, and the poet had let her down. She wished for somebody, a soulmate, a true love, a caring, loving soul to take care of her and love her. If only she could find one.  
                         And if only she realized that the one whose name told her God is gracious, Joanne, was right around the corner and closer than she thought. 


	2. Chapter 2

    Joanne wanted order, not chaos. She wanted things to make sense. Not so much in the way that anything would tie her down-after all, for her, keeping a schedule and keeping her life organized was its own freedom.  
   She’d grown up in the northern part of the state, but moved to NYC to practice law. Law. It was…well, lawful, for one thing. It was steady. When it fluctuated, you expected it, you could predict it. It obeyed the rules of the universe and its own rules. (Though Joanne could forget that these were invented by humans-she’d held this degree at too high an esteem for too long to remember it often.)  
   New York City was an organized chaos. You expected the traffic jams and the annoying pedestrians and customers in coffee shops and every pizza place claiming to have the world’s best. You expected the lies and the scandal and the protests. Every tiny little detail, no matter how out of the ordinary, made _sense.  
_ __Joanne was fine with this. Not that she was averse to change-no, change was a normal part of life and she quite welcomed it with open arms-but the less things changed, the better.  
   And then she met Maureen Johnson.  
   Maureen was this blazing asteriod, a fiery ball of spunk and energy who didn’t care what people thought, didn’t care what the universe thought, and she did what she wanted to do. She crashed into Joanne’s life like a meteor.  
   Joanne fell in love almost instantly.  
   Not that she’d ever admit to herself that it was the so-called cliche of “love at first sight”-but as the weeks went on, as they began dating and continued, she had a sneaking suspicion that she was right.  
   Maureen had just come out of a relationship. With some man named Mark Cohen. Joanne was almost sure she’d heard his name at some political rally or protest or something of the sort-but she could never quite remember. Maureen constantly told Joanne how much happier she was, how in love she was, how she wanted Joanne so much.  
   But then Joanne found out about the cheating.

  
  Joanne wasn’t usually the one to break up the relationship. And she felt that Maureen would get better the longer they dated.  
  Instead, Maureen got worse. Her stubbornness that Joanne had once admired had turned into the source of Joanne’s annoyance, her free will defended her cheating.  
  Maybe it was a good thing she’d asked both Joanne and Mark to fix her equipment.

  
  Mark had an odd way of talking-constantly fiddling with his hands, glancing around and never quite looking people in the eye, but he said things that were true. So true that hurt, that they pierced Joanne’s heart in the very spot she’d been trying to avoid for weeks.  
  She knew he was right. And she didn’t want to admit it.

  
  But she had to.  
  So, a while after she’d talked to Mark, Joanne went home one evening and broke up with Maureen.

  
  And after it, being out of a toxic relationship, she was happier than she’d been in a long, long time.


	3. Chapter 3

     Joanne walked home on the day of the breakup, keys in her hand. She turned them over as she thought about what she was about to do. And it wasn’t as if she was going to kill anyone, though the sentence had seemed like that. No. The only thing she was killing here was this relationship.

_ Kkrk. Kkrk.  _ She turned the keys and stepped into the house. “Maureen?” 

    “Coming, pookie!”

   Maureen fled down the stairs and her arms were around Joanne’s neck in a minute. She kissed her. Joanne kissed back, for however briefly.

  Her girlfriend smiled. “I missed you. Work late today?”

  Joanne nodded. “Maureen, there’s…something we should talk about.”

  “What?” Maureen’s eyes were wide, curious, and intense. Joanne took her hand and led her over to their old couch that they didn’t want to sell because they had pack bonded with it. 

   “Maureen…” Joanne looked Maureen in the eyes. 

    No sparks. Not anymore.

   “Pookie.” 

   Joanne sighed. “Look, Maureen, I can’t keep doing this. Pretending I’m okay with this or turning a blind eye or however you want to put it. I just…I’ve had enough. Mark was right. It was dangerous to stay with you.”

   Maureen frowned, her painted lips curving. “Dangerous…?”

   Joanne removed her hand from Maureen’s. “For my heart and all my expectations of love. You flirt with everyone, and while I’m okay with the everyone part, the flirting is a problem. You have commitment issues and I want us to be one thing, one couple, one perfect duo. But that can’t happen. You have trouble committing to relationships and even projects. Yes, I know you love me more, but Mark deserved more than a kiss and a ‘we’re over’. I’ll give you more than that. We are finished because I can’t trust you, and I can’t afford to have my heart broken again and again.” Joanne was still looking at Maureen. Her girlfriend. Her ex-girlfriend.

    Maureen shakily took a breath. She wasn’t one to let emotions get to her-at least not to cry in front of somebody. Her eyes turned determined and fiery. Angry. “Fine, then!” She said, crossing her arms, “I’ll pack up my stuff and I’ll go live with Mark and Roger!”

   “Maureen-”

   “No! Clearly, you don’t want me here anymore! So that’s it, Ms. Jefferson, I’ll go!” Maureen packed up her stuff while Joanne watched futilely, Maureen somehow doing everything angrily. Her teddy bear got shoved into the bottom of the cardboard box she was putting her things in. (Yes, she still had a teddy bear. Joanne suspected that’s where she got the “pookie” nickname from. She’d have to ask Mark.) 

   “Maureen,” Joanne tried again, in a softer voice.

   “Good-fucking- _ bye!” _

   The door slammed.

   Joanne sighed.

   As awful as it seemed, she found that she was happy.

   Perhaps, in the long run, Maureen would be too.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> joke borrowed from meetyourmarker on tumblr

“My ex-girlfriend is freeloading on our couch.”

    Roger looked up. “Seriously?” He swung his legs over the side of the bed and sat up. “Fuck is she doing here?”

    Mark shrugged and sat next to Roger, flopping back onto the bed and closing his eyes. “She’s eating our food.”

    “How long has she been here? And obviously, sherlock, we don’t want her to starve.”

    “I don’t know.”

    “Mark!” 

    “I meant about how long she’s been here.”

    “Oh.” 

    Roger joined Mark in laying back on his bed. “This is nice.”

    “Yeah.”

    “No homo though.”

    “Literally every person we know is a homo, Roger.”

      Maureen was still sitting on the couch by the time Mark came back out to the small living room. She had gone full cliche breakup-eating a tub of ice cream, watching a soap opera, and blasting Taylor Swift lyrics. 

      “Are you alright?” Mark asked, and Maureen growled at him. She’d clearly been crying too. 

      Mark held up his hands in defense. “Okay. Jeez.” 

      He studied Maureen. Had he been like this when she broke up with him? Surely not. He opened his mouth to say something, then decided against it. He walked out and decided to see Mimi.

 

     The Catscratch in the daytime was incredibly boring. Still a strip club, alright-with plenty of booze and sex to go around-but nothing interesting. The only people who tended to come in the daytime were washed-up, burned-out old junkies. Not that Mark minded.

      He leaned against a wall next to the bar, waiting for Mimi to go on break. The bartender knew him well enough and didn’t mind.

     Finally,  _ finally,  _ Mimi came over to join him. She poured herself a glass of something alcoholic-Mark didn’t pay attention to what-and joined him. “What’s up?” she asked, offering him a sip.

     He shrugged. “My ex-girlfriend is living on our couch because Joanne broke up with her.” He took the sip. Not the best drink in the world, but not the worst, either.

     “Wow.” Mimi half-laughed. “I feel bad for laughing, but…”   
     “Yeah. It’s kind of hilarious.” 

      Mimi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Is she alright?”

      “She was eating a tub of ice cream and watching the Young and the Restless when I left.”   
      “Oh, that’s bad.” 

      “Uh-huh.” Mark sighed. “How much longer are you on break?”

      “I’ll have to go back now. See you!” Mimi gave Mark’s cheek a friendly kiss and headed back to work, and he walked back home to deal with another person living with him.  


	5. Chapter 5

Mimi was settling in for the night when the knock came on her door. Rain splattered outside, sounding calming to Mimi’s nerves. Sound of rain on the pavement was like a lullaby for her. 

Mimi turned the handle and in front of her stood Joanne Jefferson. Joanne, with her beautiful curly hair, frazzled and frizzed from the rain. “You need something?” 

“Yeah. Can I come in? Sorry about the wetness.” 

Mimi shrugged. “I don’t care. It’s my apartment, I mean...I don’t really care if you get the place wet.” 

“Thanks.” Joanne went over and sat down on Mimi’s couch, closing her eyes. She was clearly exhausted. Mimi smiled-she couldn’t help thinking Joanne looked attractive.

Then, a yell was heard from Mark. 

“ _Fuck!_ My camera! Mimi, help!”

Mimi sighed. “I’ve gotta-“

”Yeah.” 

Mimi smiled again and left to deal with Mark and his neverending list of problems. 


End file.
